Spuds - what's the trick then?

puravida · « **on:** June 28, 2007, 17:22 »

What's the trick to knowing when to dig spuds up?

Mine have been going geat guns. My mate dug his up and ate them before they flowered but I also read that you wait until after they flower and they start to die back a bit.

:?

I have a selection - some charolttes, some desiree, some kind eddies. They are all about 1.5-2 feet high now and just starting to show signs of flowering.

DD. · « **Reply #1 on:** June 28, 2007, 17:35 »

With earlies, you can dig before they flower, but be prepared to get smaller, but very tasty new spuds. Depends on what you want out of the crop. General advice is to scrape a bit of soil back & take a peep at what's they. If you're happy - in goes the fork!

I tend to dig early, knowing that by the time I get to the end of the row the spuds will be 2 weeks or so further on.

With lates (main crop), which King Edward & Desiree are, it's a different story. You have to wait for the foliage (haulms) to die off. Depends what you read, one advice is to remove the withered foliage, wait ten days & then lift & dry. Generally the idea to wait so that the spud, in particular the skin, is mature & will store.

milkman · « **Reply #2 on:** June 28, 2007, 21:25 »

I've been digging my Charlotte for a couple of weeks now, but it may be that I got the tubers planted earlier than you did. Have a feel under a couple of plants to see if you can pull out anything useful like a potato of a size worth eating, or if you have lots of plants dig one up to see what's going on underneath.

But leave the maincrop spuds well alone for another month.

Annie · « **Reply #3 on:** June 28, 2007, 22:33 »

We`re digging up the first earlies as we need them(rocket and aaron pilot) and will leave the others to flower and watch the foliage for blight or fading then unearth a few to see the size.When we do dig the later ones up we choose a sunny day and lay them out on newspaper on the lawn until dry,turning as needed then pop them in sacks and they store well.

puravida · « **Reply #4 on:** June 29, 2007, 18:56 »

just checked and realised I told you the wrong potatoes!!

Actually have - desiree, moulin rouge and maris piper.

Any of them worth having a look at yet do you think???

A trick for growing spuds in this watery climate Started by digital_biscuit on Grow Your Own	3 Replies 1681 Views	July 26, 2007, 18:55 by Jim T
The Tin Foil Trick Started by Mark's Sussex Allotment on Grow Your Own	30 Replies 9541 Views	March 27, 2013, 12:26 by Aunt Sally
Tin foil trick Started by Plot74 on Grow Your Own	4 Replies 2056 Views	April 27, 2012, 08:06 by Yorkie
Is there a broad bean trick Started by prakash_mib on Grow Your Own	19 Replies 4634 Views	March 28, 2011, 10:03 by Paul Plots